Hazel Blears. She encapsulates all that stinks about "New Labour". On "Question Time" on radio 4 (UK) last Saturday she refused to condemn "The Sun" for the Saddam underpant photos, instead saying what a tyrant he was etc. etc. etc. Is this because Murdoch had "The Sun says Vote Labour today" on the front of his organ on 5th May 2005?

The last few items were a kind of "I told you so". Sorry about that.

What with the evolving Shia/Sunni conflict (again the work of the Salafi Jihadists) it doesn't seem like there will be any end to the bloodshed for years. Lets all keep hoping that the Iranians and the Saudis stay out of it. Well done Bush and Blair. Any exit strategy looks increasingly doubtful.
21/12/04

Where did those documents found by the Daily Telegraph in Baghdad come from? Were they planted by Special forces on behalf of the government to discredit Galloway?
2/12/04

Is noone else interested about the provenance of the Galloway documents?
3/12/04

I need to keep repeating this.just came accross an article from December 2003 where David Aaronovitch (one of the Iraq war supporters from the left of the political spectrum - see saturday April 10th post)says "If Iraq becomes a democracy, the consequences for the rest of the Middle East would be profound. If it becomes a basket case, then people like me will owe the world an apology. David"I wonder what his timescale is?
26/04/04

Any Iranian involvement would risk not just a Sunni/Shia civil war in Iraq, but potentially a regional religious war. Saudi Arabia has virulently anti Shia militants in abundance, part of the Salafi creed of the extreme Wahhabis is to kill Shia as apostates. As regards Pakistan, Ramzi Yousseff (1993 WTC bomber) and Khaled (supposed Al Qaeda operations head) both come from Baluchistan in Pakistan, and honed their fanaticism on Pakistani Shia and attacks on Shia over the border in Iran. There are therefore many potential recruits for a jihad against the Shia. The Blair bush needs to tread very carefully here in my view.
22/04/04

I just came accross an article from December 2003 where David Aaronovitch (one of the Iraq war supporters from the left of the political spectrum - see saturday April 10th post)says "If Iraq becomes a democracy, the consequences for the rest of the Middle East would be profound. If it becomes a basket case, then people like me will owe the world an apology. David"
22/04/04

I'm not sure how this 30th June "transfer of sovereignty" in Iraq works.There is no Iraqi army or police force, so obviously the "coalition" forces can't leave otherwise there would be anarchy (remember Afghanistan in the 1990's) Therefore the ultimate power is in the hands of the "coalition" forces. So if the "sovereign" authority wants to do something which the US disagrees with, what happens?
16/04/05

The election seems like a success in the Shia south and the Kurdish north. No surprises there. what about the Sunnis and their new best friends the salafi jihadists?
31/01/05.

I just looked at some old posts and decided that this needs reviving. Soon, "I told you so".